Currently about nine percent of both the traditional student body and the faculty identify themselves as Quaker, a figure that is in line with the Strategic Plan’s target number for Quaker students.Dean of Students Aaron Fetrow, who has recently converted to Quakerism, said that it is difficult to base Quaker presence on campus solely on numbers because Quakerism manifests itself in the campus and its students in various ways.
“You can’t quantify Quaker presence on campus,” said Fetrow. “This year seven percent of the freshman class identify as Quaker on paper but there are others who are still wondering or are agnostics and end up embracing at least the Quaker testimonies in their four years. We don’t keep track of student beliefs before they leave.” According to Max Carter, director of the Friends Center and campus ministry, the number fluctuates over an entering class’s four years.
“Student numbers are dependent on self-reporting by first-year students,” he said, “and I would imagine that they increase since Quakers remain at Guilford at a higher rate than the general percentage – and a number of students who entered as ‘other-than-Quaker’ begin identifying as Quaker by the time they graduate.”
About one-third of new Quaker students come for the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program (QLSP). Guilford is one of the top Quaker colleges in the United States and North Carolina has a large Quaker population.
Guilford competes with other Quaker schools like Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.
“I came to play soccer initially and Earlham doesn’t have QLSP or any formal organization. Guilford is slightly bigger, more diversity,” said senior Robin Nicholson, a native of Richmond, who chose Guilford over Earlham, which is closer to her home and where her mother and grandmother attended college.
Another one-third of Quaker students come to Guilford from a Quaker background, knowing they will be among other Quakers, but are not directly active in the Quaker community.
Senior George Elliot Decherney comes from a Quaker family and although he occasionally attends Sunday worship he is not necessarily active in the community on a regular basis.
The last third of Quaker students tend to come from a Quaker heritage but also choose to attend Guilford to pursue one of the many programs Guilford has to offer, academics and athletics.
“It is much harder to recruit to fit into the Guilford type,” said Carter. “Students are few and far (across the country) but if we aim for the middle, there are many out there (that fit the Guilford mold).